Ashes
by muggleborn.dragon.ryder
Summary: Locked up for so long, and now I'm finally free...But I want more...Let me make them pay...AU, inspired by the Frozen mash-up, 'Let Em Burn' and 'Let it Go'. Rated T for torture and injuries. Lots of angst. No slash. Slightly crazy characters. OOC-ness all around. Not a crack fic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Enjoy :D**

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Hiccup couldn't remember a time that he had been truly happy, except maybe in his dreams. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't weighed down by chains, or hadn't known the white haired boy in the cell with him. They had been together since childhood, bound to each other by the need for companionship and survival.

He remembered one brief moment of fun, years and years ago, when they had both used their powers on the walls – but that had been a very long time ago and they both had been whipped with what felt like a hundred lashes for doing it.

Hiccup remembered seeing the angry red welts all over his friend's back, feeling them split open on his own. Although Jack had risked another, even more brutal whipping, if he were caught, he had created a small patch of ice on the walls that Hiccup could rest against, numbing the pain in his back.

He remembered that night well: him sitting, half-naked in the cell across from Jack, the ice soothing his burning back. It was the only time he had ever been able to feel a burning sensation, and it was odd and painful and scary.

"They didn't hurt me too badly." he'd insisted to Jack, his hands in shackles, his back hurting so badly he almost cried. But he had not lost his courage.

Jack nodded listlessly, his eyes carrying only worry for his friend. Never mind that Hiccup could do nothing to help him; the only thing the white haired boy cared about was if Hiccup was alright.

They had retired to their respective sides of the cell that night, and both pretended to sleep, and both heard the other sobbing until late into the night.

Hiccup remembered the time when they thought they could "purify" Jack and he by switching their elements; he spent the night in a snowdrift, and they turned the heat up in Jack's cell until it was almost unbearable.

He still remembered Jack nearly crying with relief when they finally put the fire out, letting the temperature gradually drop. He had been doing much the same when they'd allowed him out of the snowdrift again. White with cold and shivering horribly, he had collapsed to his knees in the mercifully warm cell. He remembered Jack had rushed over to him and swept him up into a hug and cried into his shoulder. And the sight of his friend's tears proved to be too much for him, and soon he was sobbing, too.

He remembered they once thought if they just beat them enough, their powers would gradually go away. The time they thought that starving them would make them learn to "behave" and "control them".

The only way the two had gotten through a lot of that was whens. They played a lot of 'when' games.

"When we get out of here," Hiccup would begin, and Jack would finish it. Sometimes Hiccup would finish his own thought, but they always pledged to do just that when – not if, but when – they were free. You couldn't hope to survive as a pessimist. The sheer weight of getting through the day was quite enough for Hiccup.

And he remembered the day he had gotten the worst beating of his life. It had been through what Hiccup called the Hollow Period, one of those long, dreary, silent days where Jack did nothing but stare off into the distance, his blue eyes vacant. He had seemed so lifeless that Hiccup had come to know that Jack as Hollow Jack, not the one he knew and loved.

Hiccup still didn't know the man's name. All he knew was that Jack hadn't been answering fast enough for him, that the man had grabbed Jack by the throat. That Hiccup saw red. He had bounded forward in a blinding rage, and kicked the man in the shin, forcing him to drop his friend. The man had yowled in pain, scowling at the copper haired boy. The whipping lasted much longer than the regular forty lashes that time, and the man had beaten him until he'd been sobbing and pleading.

But when he got back to the cell, Hollow Jack was gone. In his place was the concerned boy Hiccup saw after every beating, quietly, secretively trying to numb the worst of it with his ice, despite how much Hiccup had worried that they were going to get caught.

That was the day he'd first felt the flames. Jack was as cool and detached as the ice he could make; Hiccup's fire was a reflection of him, roaring and raging and furious at the world. It was natural for Hiccup to feel anger towards their captors, but the rage he felt then was indescribable. He'd turned to Jack, surprising the younger boy with the blazing determination and anger in his green eyes. "When we get out of this, we are going to burn this island down to the _ground_."

Jack had nodded fervently in agreement, and they had pledged that it would be so. If they weren't driven out by a mysterious case of frostbite first, he'd joked, and Hiccup had offered him a weak smile. And Jack had gently put him to bed that night, like he was a small child. The boy's icy fingers played with his hair, but Hiccup let him, because he hadn't been touched for so long in this way, a way that was warm and comforting. So he lay there quietly, letting Jack soothe and stroke him, and, although Hiccup's body was tired from all the injuries, the horrible images swirling in front of his eyes prevented sleep.

He lay awake that night, listening to Jack's deep breathing as the white haired boy continued to gently stroke his hair. He'd never even bothered to lie down, Jack hadn't; he knew he'd be getting no sleep, either. He'd stayed fully awake that night, and Hiccup had lain awake with him.

These memories were not the ones the boy visited most, but they all stuck out to him greatly, and for good reason. Funny that they should all be cropping up tonight of all nights…

He could hear the telltale sound of Jack's ice creaking on his shackles, the metal clinking and groaning in an almost alarming way. Hiccup knew his friend's hands were shaking.

His own fingers were twitching just slightly inside his own cuffs, but he dared not show his fear. His friend was afraid enough, and he didn't want to add to the negative mix.

He could hear the hinges squeaking as they broke completely away from the floor and he saw Jack's eyes go wide, both impressed and slightly scared of his own ability.

"C'mon," Hiccup urged in a voice barely above a whisper, easily melting the metal of his own cuffs and slipping after Jack, towards the window. The metal bars on it proved to melt just as easily, and the two slipped out, unseen, their boots hitting dry sand. Hiccup could again feel that familiar anger building, the rage searing his face, turning his cheeks hot, as he looked up at the building he had been confined to for fourteen years.

"So, this is the ocean," Jack whispered wonderingly, leaning down and sticking a hand in the water. When he pulled it back out, a small part of the water had frozen. "Let's get out of here, Hiccup."

Hiccup half-wanted to stick around. He wanted to wait until the sunrise, when the people would wake up and find them gone. And then panic would set in, and, as they searched all around for the two elements and found them nowhere, the panic would just grow bigger. And how amazing would it be if they happened to be there, just waiting to rain down their wrath upon the people for the hell they had put them through for so long?

"Hiccup?"

The boy was jerked out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. The blue eyes looking back at him were concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." His voice was brittle, nearly breaking, but he turned to Jack and tried to give him a smile that wasn't completely false. "Yes, I'm alright."

Jack nodded uncertainly. "Right."

The two looked at each other for another long second, and then raced to the edge of the ocean, Jack taking a split second hesitation as he paused to see if his ice would carry him. When it flawlessly did, he began to run, to streak across the water. Hiccup twirled his hands quietly, letting a burst of flame come out, standing on it, letting it carry him across. He hit the opposite shore and turned to Jack, watching the flames flicker and die on the water now that there was no one there to feed them.

And together the frost boy and the fire boy streaked away, to start a new life.

The cold September air swirled around Hiccup, and he shivered slightly. Living with the controller of ice meant some pretty cold nights, the ones where Jack was more afraid than others, but that didn't make him used to the winter. Not at all.

There was a bit of a hush as both of them looked at each other for a moment, their heavy footsteps ceasing suddenly.

"Isn't this…isn't this amazing?" Jack whispered, his eyes sparkling with the thought of what was to come. "I mean…we don't have to hide it or get punished for doing it anymore! We can just…" as if to emphasize his point, he let a snowflake form in his palm, flickering bright blue. "…Let it go!"

Hiccup nodded at his friend's power, opening his hand, examining his own, bright red palms. He supposed that, if Jack was free, then he was free, too, but he didn't feel free. He still felt bound, tied to that island in every way. As if he couldn't let it go.

Even though Jack formed more flakes in his palms, let ice begin to cover the trees and ground, even though he streaked a couple feet away from Hiccup and began letting it go, Hiccup didn't feel as though it was going to be that easy for him.

He watched Jack racing around, laughing, letting the wind carry him up higher to paint the leaves of autumn with a covering of frost. Again, that indescribable anger began to stir. If those people, if that island, if they hadn't locked him up in the first place, it wouldn't feel like such a big deal to Jack, that he was finally able to let it go. Being free would be second nature, not something he had to stop and appreciate.

And the boiling anger only grew. It lasted for quite awhile, or at least it felt that way to him. In truth, he made it only a few hours before he felt he _had_ to say something.

"We don't have to let it go."

"What?" Jack's innocent blue eyes were pure and confused when he glanced up at his friend.

"We don't have to just let it go," the boy repeated quietly, and Jack's look took on an even greater confusion.

"What do you mean? We just hide it again?" His breathing hitched slightly in fear of that hell.

"No!" Hiccup scowled, as if he thought the boy stupid. He ducked to pass under a low-hanging tree branch. "I mean, we don't need to just walk away from what happened to us. Those people hurt us, treated us like savages! Like we didn't even deserve to walk the earth with them! Don't you want to make them pay?"

Uncertainly, Jack shook his head, taking a step back, away from his friend. "I…I don't understand what you mean. We were lucky to escape with our lives, I…I…"

"Don't you get it?" Hiccup's voice began to rise. "We shouldn't have _had_ to! Why should we have had to fear for our _lives_? Living in fear, day after day? That's NOT how they treat people, or how people should be treated! But now…" his voice grew ragged, and his breathing began to slow.

"Now we could give them a taste of what it's like. Make them live in fear for once."

Jack only stared at Hiccup in pure confusion. "I don't even know you anymore."

"Think about it!" Hiccup urged. "We could make everybody, _everybody pay for what they've done!" _In his anger, he formed a small, fiery Earth, clenching his hands around it, reducing it entirely to cinders. "We could show them what fear and pain really are. They would never hurt us again. We'd burn them all to the ground. Freeze them half to death. People would be starving and bleeding in the streets! Half of the island in eternal summer, the other for winter!" He threw his arms out to indicate what he meant, shooting fire out of his hands.

A small tree creaked, groaned, and finally collapsed from the fiery blast.

"We could crush them all! Burn everyone! Make them pay!"

"And how long would it take," Jack finally found his voice and used it, taking a step towards Hiccup. "How long would it take, then, for them to send out people to just lock us up all over again?"

"We're stronger this time," Hiccup insisted. "We're faster, and smarter and more powerful than they are. We're fire and ice, Jack. Together, you and I are unstoppable."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alright, witches. Here's the deal. I'm getting a lot of ideas for this fic beyond this chapter, so this might be more than a three-shot. Okay? C: **

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"What?"

The look on Jack's face spoke of disgust, horror, fear and anger, but he didn't look at all pleased with the proposition. When he still didn't reply, Hiccup tried again.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"Let me…" Jack took a deep, shuddering breath. "Let me get this straight: you want to kill…to kill people? To kill everyone?"

"Of…of course I do," Hiccup stammered, suddenly very unsure of himself. Why was Jack looking at him like he was crazy? The fire sparking in his palms died suddenly, and he didn't bother to try and restart it. "I mean…not everyone…I mean, our pledge. Remember it?"

"Hiccup, we pledged a lot of things," Jack replied. "Care to be a little bit more specific?"

"We promised we'd burn that island. You promised to help me kill everyone there."

"For God's sake, Hiccup! That was a long time ago!"

"But you still promised!" Hiccup insisted. "What, are you just going to break it now?"

"There are people on that island!" Jack began. "Families who didn't even know we were there, children who weren't even born when we were taken, I mean…there are fathers and mothers and siblings! It'd be wrong to break apart a family! We'd be doing the same thing they did to us!"

"Exactly!" Hiccup countered. "Why do you think I want to do it? When I do decide to kill them, Jack, I'll be showing them mercy. Because the ones I let live…those are the ones I'm going to make pay for what they put us through."

"Hiccup…"

"Think about it, Jack! We could finally make them see how it felt to be us! We could make them regret it a thousand times over! And by the time we're finished with them, we'll be unstoppable. They'll be begging us for death."

When Jack didn't reply, Hiccup barreled on, the sparks beginning to shoot out of his hands again in his agitation. "You could cover it in winter. The harshest winter they have ever seen! An eternal snowstorm, raining vengeance down on them at last! Their pathetic cries ringing in our ears! We would never have to show them mercy or hide from them again!"

"You…" Jack managed to spit out.

Hiccup could feel a smile beginning to spread on his face. Jack had never disagreed with him before, and the fire boy felt sure that his talk of eternal winter had won Jack over.

But the white haired boy only managed, "You are crazy."

The smile dropped suddenly from Hiccup's face. "No, I'm not! I'm trying to show the world that they can't hurt us!"

"If you go about this the way you want, millions of people are going to try to recapture or even kill you! People will see your power and want it for themselves! Especially if you go around flashing it like that."

"Let them try," Hiccup shrugged nonchalantly. "They can't beat us."

"I'm not going to do it."

Hiccup's brows drew down angrily. "But—

"I've spent years and years hearing that I'm a monster! I'm not going to succumb to that and prove them right!"

"This isn't about whether or not you are what they've painted you to be!" The grass around Hiccup grew black and scorched.

"Please, listen to me!" A note of desperation began to color Jack's voice now, and Hiccup's rage began to calm, just a bit. He recognized that fearful tone, the tone that meant Jack really was scared, that he really was worrying for his friend's safety, and, in this case, his sanity. "You don't understand, this is a bad idea! Let's just go away together, Hiccup, please. We can run and never look back."

"Why should we have to run?"

"If we're away from people, we can't hurt them. And they can't hurt us."

"It doesn't seem fair." Hiccup muttered. "That we always have to flee. That we're not allowed to stand and fight."

"Another day." Jack said. "Once they've seen that we're not monsters, they won't be afraid of us anymore."

Jack's words and opinions had always mattered to Hiccup. He had started to listen to that desperation, and started to let the words themselves sway him, but the words suddenly brought the pounding rage roaring back to life. The only difference was that it was no longer aimed at Jack as well as the island.

Why should we have to _prove_ that we aren't monsters? Hiccup demanded angrily of himself. He turned to Jack with a determined look on his face.

"You can do that." He whispered. "I'm done trying to sway you. You've chosen a different path. But I'm going back there, and I'm going to burn every last man, woman and child on that island. I am going to reduce their homes to cinders. And I am going to enjoy every second of it. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Jack took a couple clumsy steps forward, trying to keep pace. Hiccup turned to him, wondering if giving up had made the boy change his mind.

"Wait." Jack panted. "I'm not going to help you. But I'm going with you, to protect you. Just in case you need it, alright?"

"I won't be needing you." Hiccup said sharply. "You don't have to come with me."

Jack didn't flinch at the harshness of his friend's tone; the same stubborn look in Hiccup's eyes blazed in Jack's as well. "Maybe you won't need me, I don't care. But just in case you do, I'm going to be right there, alright? I don't want anybody to hurt you again, and if that means charging off with you on some crazy mission to start a bonfire until all your inner angst can be resolved, that's what I'm going to do."

Hiccup closed his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Thank you."

"C'mon." Jack whispered. "Let's get this over with."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ehhh, this chapter is just okay, I think. And watch me write like crazy on this one while I pointedly blow off Untold, Starlight Star Bright, Overachiever, Shattered, It's a Scary World out There, etc. etc. xD I just really need to settle down and write on something else XD**

**Anyway, I love you all for your reviews C: please keep leaving them? C: **

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The sky was turning red in preparation for dawn, and, as Sven sat reluctantly up in his bed, he thought he smelled smoke. Fires were common things in the Viking lands; dragons still attacked these islands often, and sometimes a raid would occur in the night.

Sven was a light sleeper; it surprised him that he would have been able to sleep through the noise of a dragon raid. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed and jerking his helmet up from the floor, he wandered, a bit sleepily, over to the window to take a look.

His drooping eyelids popped open and he let out a strangled cry.

The inferno was something of the likes of which he had never seen. The flames kept sparking, rising higher, devouring trees and homes and forests, and there seemed to be many people about, rushing around, trying to fix it. A few held buckets that were filled to the brim with water, judging by the clear liquid that splashed out onto the ground.

He picked up his axe, turning to race out the door to help fight it.

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When they reached their island, Hiccup was surprised. Jack was shaking slightly, his fingers trembling as he looked out over the water. Hiccup hesitated for only a moment himself. He couldn't deny that he was also, just a little bit, afraid. The thought of coming back to the place where he had been imprisoned for so long was more than a little terrifying. Still. He was strong now. Strong and powerful. And they couldn't hurt him.

"We'll be alright," he whispered, to give both himself and Jack strength and courage. "They can't hurt us."

Jack nodded, his lips pressed so tightly together that they were nearly white. He didn't offer a verbal response.

Hiccup flexed his fingers slightly, calling the power forth. The flames came rushing out of his fingertips, setting a small section of the ground alight. As the fire crackled and popped merrily, Hiccup stepped closer, splitting it easily until it formed two, separate fires. Sending one in one direction and the other in another proved to be easy; he'd never even known he could do that until now.

A proud smile tugged at the corners of his lips as the fire reached new heights, licking and eating everything in sight. The flames devoured trees and land, and Hiccup stretched it out towards the nearest home. The fire happily began to eat away at the wood. He could hear the screams of terror beginning shortly after. As the people began to run out, Hiccup drew some of the fire closer around him, shielding himself from view. He could hear water sloshing in buckets, trying to douse the fire.

He did feel it start to flicker in some places, threatening to die, but he was reasonably confident that by now, the inferno was too strong. Nobody could kill it now. The miserable humans were powerless against him. The wind blew his flames higher, lifted his hair back off his forehead. He grinned into the breeze as more screams reached his ears. This was _wonderful_.

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Jack was not exactly sharing his friend's feelings. In fact, if Hiccup had thought to look back, he would have seen the frost boy's face twisted in disgust and horror as every scream pierced the air. Jack stared at his friend, at the flames rising higher and higher with every gust of wind, every flick of Hiccup's fingers. His stomach began to churn as the smell of smoke hit his nostrils.

The fire walled them in, and sweat began to trickle down Jack's face and neck. He looked up at Hiccup tentatively for a second, wondering if he should ask the boy to calm down. He knew from experience that Hiccup had a fiery temper that lived up to his power. But surely, he couldn't be this angry, could he? He couldn't want to kill innocent people…

Any minute now, Jack knew, the boy would open his eyes and see that this wasn't what he really wanted…he would turn away from this, and leave the island once more. Sure, it might be badly burned, but Hiccup had stopped before he could finish, and that was what would matter.

The problem was, his friend _wasn't stopping_.

The fire roared loudly in Jack's ears, and, as the smoke hit him again, he realized there was no oxygen left to breathe. He hit the ground on his knees, trying desperately to suck in air, but there was none to be found. And all around him, the wall of fire only grew stronger, the smoke only growing thicker. Hiccup wasn't going to stop.

His eyes began to water from the smoke, and he opened his mouth, sure vomit would come tumbling out, but he merely retched onto the ground. There was still a gap in the fire wall, and he knew it would be closed soon. So he needed to reach it, because he knew now that he couldn't stay close to Hiccup. He had to get out of the fire, find a place on the island that no fire had reached yet. Some small place.

Ash blew into his eyes, threatening to choke him, and his streaming eyes made things hard to see. He crawled, slowly and deliberately, over to the tiny gap. He wouldn't be getting out of here without burns. He knew that now. Why didn't he ever consider that fire and ice weren't meant to work together? One was always meant to destroy the other, in the end.

And if he didn't get out soon, that was what was going to happen to him.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Alright, witches. Here's the next chapter. Some pretty major angst C: please enjoy! **

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The ash swirled thickly around him, shielding everything from sight. Hiccup swatted lightly at the smoky particles, looking around for Jack. The frost boy was not right behind him and it troubled Hiccup. He squinted around the area, dead and burned grass crunching beneath his feet.

"Jack?" Hiccup called uncertainly, stumbling over bodies, some unconscious from the smoke inhalation, faces bright red. Some had already died but the inferno had not yet eaten up what was left. Hiccup tripped over his own feet, kicking a brown-haired Viking off to one side, letting the fire claim him, too.

A sudden breeze stirred up more ash and smoke, causing Hiccup to wipe at his watering eyes so he could see. "Jack!" His voice echoed hollowly on the empty island. There was nobody left alive or conscious to answer. The panic began to set in. What had he been thinking? Jack was ice and he had locked him in an inferno. He had literally had him trapped inside a winter king's worst nightmare.

He tried telling himself that it was some sort of ashy mixture and not tears that stung his eyes. He stepped over another fallen body. The temperature rose steadily as he checked piles of rubble, every body he found, half-destroyed homes and even the blackened, ashy forests for his friend. The boy was nowhere to be seen. He was simply lost.

The fire began to start up again, stronger this time. The smoke was thicker. The flames were raging, out-of-control, unstoppably angry. "Jack!" he cried, beginning to stumble around a bit, unable to see thanks to the ashes and the tears. The flames followed in his wake as he hit his knees, crawling forward and calling for his friend, silently begging Jack to answer.

When the white hair and pale skin first became visible among the flames, Hiccup calmed a bit. As a result, the heat dropped as well. The fire was temporarily soothed as Hiccup rose unsteadily to his feet again, his legs shaking beneath him as he ran towards the other boy, cradling him in his arms like a treasure.

He was breathing, Hiccup noted with relief and a sob worked its way out of his throat as more tears began to fall from his eyes. Oh, yes, he was breathing, but he was out cold and every breath he took sounded labored. Hiccup hugged Jack closer to him, feeling fresh tears begin to form in his eyes. A few of them traveled down his cheeks as he held his friend.

"Jack…" he breathed unsteadily, wiping the boy's hair out of his face so he could see the tightly closed eyes. "Jack, I'm sorry…please be okay…please…" he hugged the boy closer to him, hoping and praying with everything in him that his only friend would be okay.

* * *

Jack awoke slowly and, when he did, he was somewhere warm. Almost too warm. Weak, thin arms encased him and he felt something burning hot and wet hit his face. Blinking, he opened his eyes, staring up into the face of the person who held him.

Green eyes filled with tears stared back at him; worried hands stroked his thick white hair frantically, uncertainly. "Jack, please be okay." whispered a voice above him worriedly. A young voice. A familiar voice.

"Hiccup?" he rasped weakly, trying to sit up, to get a better look.

Hiccup gave a small start at seeing his friend come to so soon. Jack could almost hear the other boy's heartbeat, painfully fast, leaving him breathless. "I'm here, okay?"

Why was his throat so scratchy, his tongue so hard to lift? Why did his eyes feel like someone was insistently pressing on the lids? All he wanted to do was sleep, and something about his consciousness seemed to have jarred Hiccup, although he couldn't think why. He was burning hot all over, and all he wanted to do was create some ice to bury himself in, or maybe a snowdrift…

He tried to sit up, but Hiccup pushed him gently back down, a worried look creasing his face. "Jack—

"I'm hot," Jack mumbled.

Hiccup's lips tightened. Jack thought he saw a few tears cascading down the boy's cheeks, and he couldn't understand why. There was nothing to cry about, right? "I'm so sorry, Jack."

"Not your fault, is it?" Jack panted, allowing Hiccup to push him down this time, settling himself back in the other boy's arms. "What…what happened to me?"

"We'll get you somewhere cold," Hiccup promised. "C'mon."

Throwing a strangely dark look over his shoulder, he rose, trying to bring Jack with him, but the instant he was on his feet was the same instant in which he was back on the ground, stumbling under the other boy's weight.

Jack couldn't help but laugh at the surprise written all over Hiccup's face; it was like the boy had expected Jack to be light as a feather. Hiccup didn't laugh; his face remained serious, and he reached for Jack again.

"It's okay." Jack reassured him. "I can walk."

Hiccup's face remained tight and pale from worry, but he didn't protest. He waited for Jack to get all the way across the water on shaky legs and only then would he cross it himself. Jack turned to watch his friend crossing, and his eyes fell on the island they had just left. It was a smoking, burning wreck of an area and suddenly his blood ran cold as he watched Hiccup creating a small inferno to carry him across. Suddenly he remembered what had happened, and why it had happened, and why he felt so tired and weak. He remembered Hiccup's face, the almost insane, perverse joy he had taken in killing all those people and destroying all those homes. The grin on the other boy's face had spoken for him and, as Jack remembered it, he suddenly felt afraid. He wanted to run then, to get as far away from Hiccup as possible, but he knew that he wouldn't. Hiccup had scared him back on that island; he had terrified him, really. But Jack could make things right.

No, he couldn't bring those people back to life, and he couldn't stop the inferno now claiming the dead island as its own. Jack was sure that, by the end of the night, not a single inhabitant would be left alive. He tried not to let his mind stray to all those poor people, being murdered so mercilessly in their beds, maybe mothers holding tiny children in their arms, assuring them it would be okay…?

Jack surprised himself by having to blink back sudden tears. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried, and oddly enough, he felt like doing so for people he had hardly known. And now he would never know them. He wanted to say something to his friend, to show the boy that what he had done was wrong. But, when Hiccup reached their spot, Jack had not thought up a single thing to say, so what came tumbling out was the truth.

"Hiccup…that fire…you killed people."

"And they would have killed us, had they been able to." Hiccup whispered bitterly, staring down at his hands. From all the fire that had touched his palms, they should have been bright red and blistered, but those discomforts were instead found on Jack's skin. Not for the first time since the fire had started, Hiccup felt the stirrings of shame. He had hurt his best friend. The frost boy had only wanted to be there for Hiccup, and this was how he repaid him?

Hiccup tried not to notice the way Jack was avoiding looking at him, but a sudden fear clenched his heart: was Jack afraid of him? He hadn't meant to hurt the boy, but the bright red burns littering the bits of pale skin he could see said otherwise. Like he had intended to hurt him, like he had wanted to. Hiccup had cried too much today already, and he didn't want to shed more tears, but he could feel them stinging his eyes all the same.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, finding himself unable to meet the other boy's eye, so he studied the ground. The grass around him died as he clenched his hands into fists, his imagination torturing him with images of Jack trapped in an inferno, utterly helpless, laying there dying, trying to breathe through thick smoke. But of course he wouldn't be able to breathe, because he was a winter boy, and Hiccup was literally made for fire. And Hiccup now thought he knew that they could never exist peaceably. _"Some say the world will end in ice, others say in fire…." _

His eyes fell on the burns he had left on Jack's skin, and his guilt worsened. "I'm…I'm so sorry," he managed to stammer, and suddenly the words were flowing freely from him now. For just a moment, he was the Hiccup that Jack remembered, gentle and shy and apologetic as always. "I never meant to hurt you that way. I forgot that you're…I didn't mean…you're my best friend, Jack. I would never hurt you, never."

Jack stared down at his hands for a long second, listening to the words wash over him. They fell from Hiccup's tongue easily and they sounded honest to the frost boy's ears. But it wasn't his own pain or suffering that bothered him. "If you're sorry for hurting me, why aren't you sorry for hurting all those people?"

Hiccup's green eyes suddenly hardened, and again Jack had that feeling that was becoming all too familiar. The feeling that he really didn't know Hiccup anymore. "They deserved it," he snarled. "You can't say you don't remember what they did to us. Or that you've forgiven it."

"No, I haven't forgiven or forgotten." Jack replied quietly. "But I can't justify wiping out a whole village on a whim because a few people in there wronged us. I'm sorry, Hiccup, but I don't understand what could possibly have led you to that point. I don't understand why you've become a murderer."

"M-murderer?" Hiccup stammered, his face flushing – shame, embarrassment, or anger? Jack wondered. "I was only raining vengeance down on them for what they did to us! For years! They should consider themselves lucky I only killed them! What they inflicted on us was a fate so much worse than death!"

"Vengeance?" Jack arched an eyebrow. "Well, then go on – I'm speaking out against you."

Hiccup looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'm speaking out against you, Hiccup. You remember how they called you monster? You're a murderer. That's what I'm saying. You killed people in cold blood for calling you a monster. What are you going to do to me if I call you a name?"

"They did so much worse than call me a monster!" Hiccup screamed, his face twisted in rage. "Don't pretend you don't know what they did! And I wasn't just doing it for myself, you know! I was doing it for you, too! I was doing it for my friend!"

"And you still haven't answered my question," Jack replied. "If I say you're a murderer, or a monster, what will you do to me?"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: YES OKAY. YES. I am willingly ignoring that I have NOT updated It's a Scary world out there, but just shhhhh. okay? C: I am quite happy working on this one. I think I like this one better because the angst levels are higher C: bah. well. anyway. I'll attempt to update one of these fics within the week (please keep in mind, I am sick though, so I'll try to balance it between them): It's a Scary World Out There, Untold or Overachiever C: Possibly Gift or Curse, because I can just feel the angst in that fic beginning C: **

**Anyway, I love you all for your reviews, please keep leaving them! Chapters should become a bit more frequent, as the one after this was originally the chapter I had an idea for.**

* * *

There was a short silence.

"Well?" Jack demanded.

"Get out of here," Hiccup ordered. "Just get away from me!"

"Are you going to hurt me, then?"

"I already have." Hiccup's eyes flickered down to Jack's burned, bright pink arm; the white haired boy could swear he saw guilt in the other's eyes.

"What? Should I leave before you hurt me even worse?" Jack demanded, taking a step closer to him.

"Something like that." Hiccup whispered darkly.

"Is that all you're gonna say?" Jack demanded, trying to step in front of the other boy. Although Hiccup was a few months older than he was, Jack was taller, and he stared down at the copper haired boy for a second or two. Hiccup was the first to look away. Strange – that position normally rested with Jack. And the anger normally rested with Hiccup.

"Just go away!" Hiccup burst out, reaching out both arms like he was going to shove Jack back, or burn him.

Jack may have been young, but his short life had taught him several things already; one of these things was that whenever somebody reached out like they were going to hurt you, you stepped back and waited for the blow, no questions asked. He did much the same thing then, stumbling backward, dropping his head so his white bangs concealed his crystal blue eyes from Hiccup's view.

Hiccup hadn't realized what he'd done at first; his angry reaction had been so fierce and immediate he hadn't stopped to think. But now he stopped to think. He stared down at his hands for a second, unwilling to believe what he had so nearly done. What he _had_ done, he reminded himself a bit guiltily, his eyes flickering down once more towards the other boy's arm.

Instantly, Hiccup's wild anger vanished and he was the same gentle person he had been when he was young. A part of his younger self lurked beneath the surface – very deep beneath it. "I'm…I'm sorry," he began, reaching out for the other boy. "I'm…I'm really sorry—

"No, you're right," Jack avoided the other boy's eyes as he rose to his feet once more. "I really should just go."

"Jack—

"No, you're right." Jack turned to go, beginning to streak back the way he'd come, deviating a bit off his ice path so he wouldn't return to the burned island. Hiccup watched his best friend until the other boy had become nothing but a streak in the distance.

* * *

Jack ran with his head down, watching his ice beginning to run in a different direction, carrying him away from the burning island. He couldn't help those people now. The only thing he could think, or see, in his mind's eye, was Hiccup reaching out to shove him, the anger burning in his eyes, the fire sparking feebly in his palms. He'd been pushed a lot in his life – physically and emotionally. But he'd never thought he'd see Hiccup going towards him with his arms outstretched, his brows drawn down into a scowl.

He never stopped running, never pausing to stop and think about what he was going to do now. Did it matter what he planned to do? He was free now. And he couldn't have done some of the things he'd wanted to, anyway – Hiccup was no longer there by his side. No matter how many pledges or promises they had broken these past few days, Jack knew it wouldn't feel right, to do these things they had promised to do together. It wouldn't feel right to do them without Hiccup by his side.

He continued to run, beginning to get a bit out of breath, but he would not stop and he would not glance back, either. Glancing back would mean his eyes would eventually run into Hiccup, and if he saw the other boy, he wasn't sure whether or not he would be able to keep running. He would stand there on his path of ice and hesitate and wonder whether he could forget about that smoking, ruined village still issuing smoke and steam into the pale purple sky. A few evening stars twinkled above him.

He didn't glance back. He turned and kept running.

* * *

Hiccup saw him hesitate. He saw him look up at the sky uncertainly, and his heart lifted a bit with hope. But Jack didn't even look back. He just started running again, like he didn't even remember that there was someone waiting for him. Like he didn't even know that Hiccup wanted or needed to apologize.

Hiccup ducked into the trees and began to pace the clearing at a rather brisk pace, staring down each and every tree like they held the answers to why Jack had stopped, why he had bothered to get Hiccup's hopes up and then crush them again. Hiccup could feel the fire beginning to start in his palms and, unlike when he had been imprisoned, he didn't bother to try to keep it in. He just aimed it so it couldn't hurt anyone. The fiery blast felled a tree and it came out more lava than fire.

This was surprising, Hiccup noted to himself, glancing down at his hands. Trying to distract himself from Jack's frantic pace on that path of ice. This really was surprising. He had never known he could make lava before.

"The things you find out when you're finally free," he mumbled to himself, a bit bitterly. His voice didn't carry a tinge of anger; if anything, he sounded lonely and hollow. And he was. He thought he'd feel better once that island was destroyed, but ever since, he'd only felt worse. He'd thought that there was a hole in him, a void that could be filled with revenge. But it didn't feel that way anymore. The void had only grown bigger. If he didn't fight back, it could very easily take him over.

So he did fight back. He shot his lava blasts at all the trees until his aim with them was perfect. Once the trees had all fallen from his blasts, he summoned an inferno, watching the trees give in to the heat, listening to animals roaring, squeaking, squealing, fighting, running for cover. He smiled slightly to himself. For a moment, he wasn't thinking of Jack or the island he had burned.

And then it came rushing back. He scowled, throwing his arms out again, calling forth more fire, craving the terrible flames to come shooting out of his hands. And when they did, the victorious smile on his face and the swooping happiness in his stomach didn't feel like him. He felt, a bit uncomfortably, like these things belonged to someone else. Someone vicious, someone monstrous.

And then he pushed those thoughts away. He was not vicious. He was completely, one hundred percent normal.

Well…except the flames coming out of his fingertips, but I mean, come on. That was kind of awesome.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Well, I'm back! I hope you guys enjoy this and I'm really sorry it took so long. I'm gonna try and update something else tonight as well...**

* * *

Frost trails crept onto the ground at regular intervals, leaving fern-like patterns on tree trunks, turning the leaves shining white. The dead autumn leaves that had already fluttered to the ground were covered with a fine layer of glittering white powder, and ice crystals glittered at every few feet.

Icicles hung from every branch, swinging back and forth in the gusts of cool September wind. It was a bit early for frost to be showing up, but you couldn't deny the early winter was beautiful.

Most people who ventured through the forest decided to turn back as the temperature continued to drop; but if you were quite the determined traveler, then you could follow the swinging icicles and the sparkling crystals and you would happen upon a singularly beautiful clearing. The most magnificent of homes sat in this clearing, glowing and winking different colors of winter in the sunlight.

Purple double doors were tightly shut and bolted; the snowflake imprint upon them was a beautiful work of art. There were no windows on the pale blue walls, no way for any inhabitants inside the house to look out. More importantly, there was no way for anybody outside to look in.

Here is where you would find Jack Frost, in this modest ice building. Snow covered the ground of his home as well, but he drank in the cold temperatures, staring up at the ceiling of the castle. It had taken a lot of power out of him to create this beautiful place, and sometimes he found his powers hard to control. The evidence of this was the snow on the ground outside, the marks of winter on every tree.

He frowned as he remembered the temperature outside; he was worried that the signs of winter wouldn't melt, and he knew he had to be careful. If anybody found out what he was capable of, what he could do…

He shuddered at the very thought. He had spent quite enough of his life locked up, and he wasn't going to do it anymore.

But he wasn't going to be like his friend, either. Hiccup truly enjoyed the brutality of the kills, but Jack knew he never could. He could hurt somebody, he could kill them, if it meant his own safety, but he would never want to. And he wouldn't enjoy it.

His frown grew as he thought of Hiccup, and his brows drew together. They had been like brothers their whole life. They had been best friends. Jack had been scared and sad all those years in that cell, but he had never wanted for company. He had never known what it would be like, life without the red-haired boy.

Although he knew ice was his friend's polar opposite, the castle felt lonely and empty without him. He felt that Hiccup belonged there. So many pledges and promises, so many years and nights spent comforting each other, it was all blown away in a single instant. Sure, Hiccup had talked before of burning the island down to the ground, but Jack had brushed it off. He'd always thought Hiccup was just shouting things in anger. How could he have meant it? How could he have done it?

The castle didn't feel right without Hiccup. Jack glanced down at his pale hands, feeling the power beginning to build again, sensing the floor was about to get another coating of snow.

* * *

Ash and soot stung the man's eyes as he walked, looking around himself at the wreckage. All the reports of forest fires near this area lately; some people were starting to joke that dragons were on the loose.

He rolled his eyes as he thought of it. These people didn't understand just how serious the forest fires were.

The man ducked under a branch to avoid scraping his head and, when he looked up, he had emerged into a clearing. The spot may have been beautiful once, but now it looked barren and desolate. The grass was dead and brown, crunching beneath the man's boots as he walked.

But the dead desolation was more than made up for by the beauty of the glittering, orange building sitting smack dab in between the two sides ringed by trees. The man stumbled a bit, his mouth slightly open.

The beauty could not be denied; but the doors were thrown wide open, as though people had fled just shortly. He could only wonder how the building had survived all the fires around this region.

He didn't know it, but his questions were about to be answered. Answered, no less, by a red-haired boy walking into the clearing from another entrance, a fiery orange cloak swinging from his shoulders. His sleeves were like tongues of flame, snaking up his arm. His forest green eyes were bright and rather cheerful, but there was a certain guarded look to them. He couldn't have been much older than twelve, but the look in his eyes let the man know that he had seen quite a lot.

The man watched as the boy walked up the steps, touching the railing leading to the doorway like everything was familiar. Almost like he lived here. The man stepped forward. "Excuse me," he coughed.

The boy froze, turning slowly on the spot. His knuckles had gone very white on the rail, and his hand was shaking. "Yes, sir?"

"I only wanted to know if you'd heard about all the fires around this spot." The man edged a bit closer, surprised to find the boy backing up another step.

"Indeed, I have." A half-smile tugged at the boy's lip, as though he were enjoying a private joke.

"Then you know it would be unwise to stay here," the man replied.

"I'm not afraid," the boy said simply.

"Afraid or not, these forests are dangerous places right now," the man responded firmly. And then he looked back up at the orange building, a concerned frown beginning on his face. "Is your family with you? May I speak with them?"

"I have no family." The boy responded curtly, turning to go back in.

"You're a bit young to be out on your own, aren't you, son?" The man's voice had a concerned note that made the boy's knuckles whiten even more. "How old are you?"

The boy considered for a moment. "Old enough."

The man raised an eyebrow. "This is a dangerous place to be in right now. If I were you, I would be on my way."

A shadow of a smile tugged at the boy's lips as he looked down at his hands. "I'm not concerned for my own safety. I'm not afraid of fire."

The man's brow knitted as he saw the boy turn slowly. Before he could even register what had happened, ask himself if he was losing his mind, he saw the redhead throw his hands out sharply. Something bright orange shot out of his palms, enveloping the man in a single blast. And then a few ashes crumbled to the ground. The spot where he had stood smoked slightly.

Hiccup's smile was twisted – that of a madman. He walked over to where the ashes still sat and he kicked them, scattered them around, letting the wind carry them away. "Like I said," he whispered, although he knew the man who had once been there could not possibly hear him anymore, "I am not afraid of fire."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry it's so uneventful.**

* * *

The desolate wasteland stretched on, completely unbroken except for the fiery orange building set in the still smoking clearing, like some perverse monument to the arsonist. Bodies littered the ground; the people in the nearby village who had tried to find the cause of the forest fires. There was also a small pile of ashes on the cracked, dry ground, but Hiccup rarely ever so much as glanced down at it.

As the weeks stretched on, he slowly cleaned up the dead bodies, burning them further, reducing everybody entirely to ashes. The village was losing many people, but becoming ever nosier about the fires. Hiccup idly considered just wiping out the whole thing and being done with it. But moving on was not an option. He had claimed this forest as his.

But what if, he wondered to himself one day as he sat in his house of heat and fire, what if he were to claim more places as his own? What if he were to leave his mark upon other places of the earth, what if he were to leave his mark upon all the earth? The world would never forget the fiery Armageddon that rained down upon them. The people would speak his name with equal parts awe and fear, and he would be remembered, respected. Feared. He would be feared. People would look at him with terror in their eyes.

He remembered the terrified, panicked screams of the villagers he had attacked just a few weeks back, and he smiled slightly to himself. That had felt amazing, knowing that many people were afraid of him. Knowing he controlled their puny little lives. For all the years of being constantly at someone else's mercy, it felt good to be feared. Perhaps a little too good.

He then remembered Jack's horror for the whole idea, his reluctance to go along with it. But he had gone along with it anyway, because he worried Hiccup might need him.

The copper-haired boy suddenly clenched his hands into fists. This mark upon the earth that he planned to leave…what if he accidentally hurt Jack in the process? Jack could not survive in the same fiery wasteland as he could. What would the white-haired boy do?

And then Hiccup firmly pushed his once best friend out of his mind. Jack was a coward, and a fool, and he had chosen a different path from Hiccup's. He would learn the same way as everyone else, the hard way, what a path that deviated from Hiccup's meant.

It would mean pain. It meant a horrible death. Oh, he would applaud him for his bravery, his attempt to stand against him, but in the end, Jack would have to meet the same fate as everyone else.

Still, Hiccup's heart clenched when he dared think about it. He collapsed on the ground of his home, his knees shaking as he imagined Jack's pale face, laughing blue eyes closing for the final time, the fun-loving smile that Hiccup had so rarely glimpsed fading. Never to be seen again. Would sweat be coating his brow as he glanced around at the flames? Would he try to think of a way out of it? Would he cry, would he beg? Would Hiccup feel mercy?

The trembling in the boy's legs increased and he stood, sweeping out the door and throwing his fiery blasts everywhere, letting it engulf the already dead wasteland. There was nothing more to help the flames grow and they died quickly.

Hiccup let out a shout of rage when he realized his fire could no longer burn. Lava rained down, seemingly from the sky. The fire tried feebly to burn, licking at the ground, springing temporarily to life before dying again. And as Hiccup yelled in a fierce rage, he realized the fire couldn't burn because he had left it nothing to burn. He had forced it to take up all of its fuel so many days ago, and now he felt the power building, knowing he wouldn't feel a true release until he saw something burn.

So he ran, racing away from his palace of fire, staring around wildly, looking for something to burn. Dead grass and twigs crunched loudly under his boots, his palms sparking every five seconds. No trees. They had all been lost in his feverish rage. The grass was dead and brown, hard under his feet. His heart pounded as he ran before stumbling upon an untouched place in the forest. Beautiful emerald green grass that he collapsed upon in trembling relief. Trees that ringed the tiny meadow, their leaves shimmering in the sunlight. A tiny stream bubbled happily and he could see the fish in the clear water, swimming and splashing their tails happily.

For a moment, he smiled, hugging his knees to his chest. The urge to ruin the perfect scene faded. How could he kill this? How could he harm these trees, kill this grass? How could he take away all this life, from the leaves swaying in the breeze to the fish jumping up and down in the water? He smiled for a bit to himself, watching the fish. His hands drifted into the water and he reached down for the underwater plants, enjoying the feeling of the cool water splashing over his hands.

And then the water frothed and hissed angrily, the plant died just from his touch and the fish instantly swam away, as if he were a huge, ugly shark. And his smile faded just as suddenly as it had come, and he yanked his dripping hands out of the water.

He scowled to himself, shook his hands free of the water, and allowed his fire to eat up this little bit of life. Who the hell cared if he killed this place, anyway? He was born to kill.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay, second update of today! I really hope you guys like it, and it will get the story moving more! Next chapter should include some Jack, but for some reason, I'm really horrible with this story XD I'm just like, 'okay. Hiccup kills people. Jack builds an ice palace. Hiccup kills MORE people. Ah, who needs a Jack scene, anyway?' XD **

* * *

Of course, things were not exactly going perfectly for the king of summer, anyway.

It seemed that the village was smarter than he gave him credit for, Hiccup scowled, shoving his door closed forcefully and sinking down to his butt. He really should have thought of this. He should go right out there and incinerate the lot of them, but then Jack's words floated back to him: _"People will see your power and want it for themselves!" _

If even one of the determined, idiotic Vikings out there making a clumsy attempt at spying on him survived and ran around using their big mouth to tell what they had seen, the consequences could be disastrous. Much as he hated to admit it, or even think about Jack in his spare time, the winter boy was right. Hiccup didn't want to risk being caught.

What to do, then? he wondered to himself, shrinking down farther, closer to the floor. He certainly couldn't stay in the building the whole day. For one, the cabin fever would drive him crazy. And for another, the village would begin to wonder. No, best to face them head-on, he decided, looking nervously out one of the many windows.

He slowly pushed open the heavy door, the symbol of fire becoming clear as the doors fit together. He leaned on the porch and tried to think what to do. Let them know he knew? He took a deep breath, forced a tight little smile and called, "Alright! I know you're out there! Come on out, I just want to talk."

He sensed many people whispering, their voices all flowing together like the rustling of leaves and he sighed, sitting down on the porch steps. When a man at last stumbled out of the woods and into the clearing, Hiccup opted for a quick, almost friendly smile. "What's your name?"

The man was clearly nervous about facing him alone, as if he thought a teenage boy was an honest threat. But upon seeing Hiccup up close, the freckled face, the kind green eyes, he said, in a bit of a stronger voice than perhaps he might previously have used, "We'd like to know what you're doing in our forest, Freckles."

_Freckles? _Hiccup instantly recoiled at the nickname, giving a bit of an awkward cough. "As you can see, I live here. And…my name's not Freckles. I'm Hiccup."

"Right. But, the point is, you might have noticed this by now, but we've been noticing a lot of forest fires lately, and…we were just wondering why you'd be sticking around here, somewhere so close to the crimes…"

"Ahhh…" Hiccup dragged out the word, closing his eyes and leaning back. His eyes snapped open again, focusing on the man in front of him. "I see. You think I'm the culprit, don't you?"

"I didn't say that." the man instantly countered.

"You might as well have." Hiccup responded. "It's alright. It's a perfectly natural question, under the circumstances. I'll tell you what I've told the others whom asked: I'm not afraid of fire."

The man licked his lips. "Is that your reason for staying here? This isn't a game, child. You play with fire, and you'll get burned – literally this time."

Hiccup's lips twitched, threatening a smile. "Good thing I'm not playing a game, then. Good day."

"You haven't answered my question."

"Sir, I—you still haven't told me your name. May I get one?"

The man hesitated. "Call me Sulk. Everybody does."

"Alright, then, Sulk." The name rolled off Hiccup's tongue easily. "Sulk, I'm not the one starting these fires. I have absolutely no idea who is."

"Really?" Now that Hiccup had made no harmful moves, a few other villagers appeared to be getting braver; a woman with long, dark hair and intelligent eyes stepped out from the small woodland area and put a hand on Sulk's shoulder. Hiccup's eyes flickered over to the vast expanse of green. He must remember to burn that later…

"Your doors have a fire symbol on them."

Hiccup turned to look at the doors and shrugged. "Mere coincidence, and who says I have built this myself? This isn't the work of one man, in case you haven't noticed."

"It is suspicious, though," the woman responded harshly. He could only really assume she was Sulk's wife. "You spring up, and suddenly fires are starting out of nowhere. So, why are you setting fire to our forests?"

"I'm not!"

"We depend on them! You can't just take them away from us!"

And Hiccup felt his palms beginning to heat up, and he clenched his hands into fists, his anger beginning to rise. And then, he took a deep, calming breath, looked between the man and his wife and said softly, "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. There were a few fires in some forests very near here that must not have reached your village's ears yet. I hope to catch the criminal and I'm looking everywhere for him."

There was a stiff, tense silence. A few villagers began emerging from the trees, looking shyly at Hiccup. A girl about his age was giving him a much longer first look than necessary, but he hardly noticed her; his eyes were fixed on Sulk, waiting for him to speak.

But he would never know who made the accusation, only what happened next.

"Liar."

And then the fire engulfed every villager in the clearing, reaching out long, fiery fingers to catch the ones who tried to run and Sulk collapsed to the ground, a mere body at Hiccup's feet. Hiccup kicked the man aside, watching the fire claim the pathetic little village. Well, he had tried, he told himself, and that was enough for right now. He had tried not to raise too many eyebrows, and it hadn't worked.

"You monster!" somebody in the fire screamed.

"What is he?" yelled another.

"He's a curse!"

"A freak!"

"A sorcerer!"

"RUN!"

Little did they know, their words were kindling, fueling the fire, spurring it to greater heights, the words echoing in his ears.

_Monster? _The blood pounded in his ears and he felt a sort of blush heating his face. _Curse? Freak? Sorcerer?_

And then he urged the fire onward, letting it devour every moving body in front of him and he kicked at them and screamed, and burned their remains to ashes. And then he yelled a bit more, yelled about how he was not a monster. He was never going to be a monster. And then he burned that big green woodland still living and breathing, and he hated it for being so beautiful and perfect and everything he could never be. He hated it for giving life when all he could ever do was take it away.

And then, with nothing left to do, with nowhere else to go, he _ran_.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: This chapter is pure crap, and I'm really sorry. I had all this backstory originally planned out, I just didn't think about ever putting it in here. If it would be, it would be mentioned in passing, but then I thought, how could Jack possibly know about these things if he was locked up his whole life? So, this chapter begged to be written. But it's horrible and I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you with the next chapter. **

* * *

Jack found he didn't leave his ice palace very often, but when he did, it was often for simple reasons: fetching food or water or maybe just a desire to fill his lungs with fresh air. He would stand outside, looking up at the early morning sun, and he would take several deep breaths, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. He would stare up at the brilliant blue sky and smile, and he would add a fresh coating of snow to the ground, covering the leaves with a bit more frost that the early September warmth still threatened to steal away every morning.

He would stroll leisurely down the forest path and take in the sheer beauty that still stood here, the trees' leaves rustling in the breeze, the ice and snow crunching beneath his bare feet. He glanced down at the carpet of dead, brown leaves and smiled a bit, glancing up at the sky. Over his head, birds were twittering and the wind was passing through.

No, he didn't often leave his ice palace, but on that walk, on one of the few times he did, an old man came into his clearing as Jack prepared to enter his home once more. He had his hands up, smiling into the sky, letting the snow and ice fall freely from his fingertips before realizing there was movement out of the corner of his eye. He instantly let his hands drop and looked fearfully at the old man standing there. Although his hair and beard were white, there was something about him – perhaps the twin swords that were in scabbards at his sides, or his blue eyes with a cheerful twinkle – that made him seem young.

Jack hesitated, his hands clenching into fists by his sides. The old man had seen that, had seen him using his powers, and now he waited for the man to scream at him that he was a sorcerer, a freak, to turn him over to the nearest village, or run screaming to tell them, either way.

But the first words that he spoke were unexpected. "Oh, go on," the man said quietly, with a courteous nod. "Don't stop on my account. I only like to watch."

Jack took a step backward. "Don't do that. Don't act all innocent. The second I turn my back, you're gonna go running off to the nearest village, aren't you?"

"That would be unwise." The man responded. "Potentially harmful," he added, with a bit of a wince, as if he had tried that before and it had ended badly. "And boring." he finished simply. "I don't have plans to tell anyone about what I just saw. I was only watching. I don't think I've ever seen an elemental before," he smiled slightly.

"What…what do you mean?" Jack whispered. It was strange, especially after fourteen years – although of course he had no way to tell how old he was – of telling himself not to trust anyone except Hiccup, it was strange that he suddenly felt trust flaring to life. He shouldn't have taken to this man so quickly, but something about him seemed trustworthy, it seemed safe.

"Oh, wait…" The man paused, and an expression of great sadness overtook his face. "Yes, I have."

"What are you talking about?" Jack repeated, daring to edge a bit closer now.

The man ran a hand over his face, as if he were trying to wash away the memories. "Don't mind me…I'm talking to myself. I do it all the time, now." Again, that look of horrible sadness, and Jack had the feeling that the man had seen some terrible things in his lifetime.

"No, I mean…" Jack looked down at his hands. "You know about me? My power?" He hesitated a bit before asking the rest. "And you're okay with it?"

The man raised a thick, white eyebrow. "You're an elemental, a winter elemental, and nobody's told you about me?"

"No." Jack shook his head, deciding not to inform him that he had lived in a cell for the better part of his short life. "Who…who are you?" he took a few steps closer, intrigued.

"Nicholas," the man replied simply. "Nicholas North, if you want my surname, as well. I'm the Trainer."

"Of…?"

"Magic."

"Like my ice?" Jack glanced up, thousands more questions in his eyes.

"Exactly like it." North nodded. And then he gave Jack a strange look. "Surely you must have met others like you before?"

"There are more?" Jack's eyebrows disappeared into his white hair. "I mean, of course there are, you said yourself that you knew an elemental once…but are there really more people who make ice or…or fire come out of their hands?"

North hesitated. "Not fire," he admitted softly. "Or ice. Elementals are known for being the hardest to control, the hardest to teach. Fire does what it wants, and ice only thaws in the face of fire. The two elementals that possess that power would either be unstoppable or destroy each other." He gave Jack another long look, and the boy tugged self-consciously at his makeshift, raggedy blue hoodie. Those twinkling blue eyes seemed to suggest they knew more about the white-haired boy than North was letting on.

"We've been searching for you," he added softly. Despite his gentle tone, the words still caused the boy's blue eyes to widen in fear. "Not like that. We don't want to hurt you."

It was as if the man knew what Jack was thinking. He didn't relax, standing rigidly. His panic screamed at him to run, but curiosity kept him locked in place. "If not to hurt me, then why do you want me?"

"We don't…want you." It seemed as if North was trying to find a tactful way to put it. "What I mean is, there are only four elementals in the world and they represent the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter. The winter and the summer…we just concluded that they'd…they'd gone the same way the others had." His blue eyes darkened from cerulean daylight to dusk. "But winter…winter is still here." And he smiled slowly, his eyes beginning to regain their twinkle.

"What do you mean, the same way the others have?" Jack questioned, brushing his white bangs out of his face. "And I'm not the only one left, there's still summ…" and then he stopped himself. He still wasn't entirely sure whether or not he could trust this man, but if he had to be locked away again, he wasn't taking Hiccup down with him.

North's eyes widened. "There's another elemental?"

Jack hesitated for a moment, and his silence told North everything the man needed to know.

"How have we missed you two for so long?" he whispered, and then he seemed to realize something even better than finding two elementals, because his smile grew a bit more. "And you two have parted ways without the Final Duel?"

"F-final Duel?" Jack stammered uncertainly.

The smile dropped suddenly from North's face. "You don't know about the Final Duel?"

Things were moving much too fast for Jack, and he sank slowly down onto the snow-covered grass. "I…I don't understand," he said numbly. "I don't understand anything. What…what's the Final Duel?" he looked up at North for a second, a bit of ice beginning to cover the grass as well with how confused he felt. "And you still haven't explained to me what being the Trainer of Magic means, or why you've been looking for me for so long."

North slowly knelt down next to him. Jack had had a lot of people kneeling down to his eye level in his life, and this normally meant that they planned to hit him. He shrank back a bit from the man, but North didn't seem to notice. "I…I train," he began uncertainly. "What I mean is, I train people like you in controlling their powers."

This sounded horrible to Jack, to whom controlling powers meant locking them away in a cell and telling them to shut up and sit still and not speak until they found a way to cure them.

"And I don't mean controlling powers as you might have heard it," North added sharply when he saw the expression on the boy's face. "What I mean is, if you don't know how to control your powers, you might end up sending the whole world an early winter. Not just an early winter, but an eternal winter. You could never find a way to melt the snow and thaw the ice. People would get frostbite and millions would die." He paused for a moment. "Too much of one season is a terrible thing," he added softly. "For me, teaching you control means trying to gently guide you, to show you different ways to melt the snow. That's what I mean when I say that."

Jack looked down at his hands for a long moment. "And…you said something about knowing other elementals. What are the other two like? Fall and spring? Did you train them, too?"

Again, that expression of sadness. North nodded slowly, the twinkle leaving his blue eyes. "I knew them both and I trained them both. Wonderful girls and fast learners, the both of them…well…" and then his mouth dragged down at the corners.

"Do you know where I could find them?" Jack asked tentatively. He had a feeling that the more elementals he knew, the more he could find out from them.

North gave a soft, sad sigh. "They're gone."

"Gone?" Jack sat up, intrigued. "What do you mean, gone? Were they…were they taken, too?"

North nodded. "They're gone now."

And suddenly Jack understood the sadness in every line of the man's face, and a strange sadness filled his heart. He didn't know the two girls North spoke of, but he felt like a connection, a bond he didn't even know existed, had just been broken by this news. As if he had just discovered he had siblings somewhere, only to find that they were dead.

"Oh." Jack whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"It's…" North shook it off with a shake of his head, as if the reminder was merely irksome. "It's an elemental hazard. What more do you want to know?"

And then Jack hesitated a bit. He suddenly had a new world of information at his fingertips, and he could ask anything he wanted. Suddenly, he didn't feel like an unwanted freak or something for people to whisper and stare at and judge. The realization that there were other people like him, besides Hiccup, made him feel less alone.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This chapter isn't quite as bad as the last one. I hope it's not. Please don't flame. Hiccup will come right back at you with more flames, I think. Thank you for all the reviews, please keep leaving them. They make me happy :) **

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Jack stared up at the sky, his head filled with so many thoughts, he wasn't even sure which ones to pay attention to anymore. North sat beside him still, and he showed no discomfort although more snow was beginning to fall from the sky, representing the winter teen's feelings.

When Jack glanced around at him, he noticed that the man was dressed in a thick red coat with a furry lining. _That explains why the cold doesn't bother him._

"So…" Jack began carefully, his long white fingers tracing patterns in the snow by his side. He watched what his hands were doing instead of watching North; he traced a little 'J' for his name. "So, this…this Final Duel thing…it has to be done, then?"

North frowned. "It doesn't have to be. The world would be better off with a little less war, after all."

"No, but…I mean, there is a way around it?" Jack hadn't thought of Hiccup for the whole day, which was an accomplishment for him. But the moment North had begun to explain the Final Duel, Jack's thoughts had shot off in the direction of his friend. He remembered Hiccup, his green eyes flicking guiltily down to Jack's burned arm, remembered him saying quietly, "I've already hurt you."

North hesitated. "It was stated once," he began carefully, "that there would be something that would lead both of you to no choice but the Duel. But that hasn't been said for a very long time, and I'm sure people have forgotten about it. It won't come to pass."

Jack remembered being trapped in Hiccup's inferno, struggling for breath, gasping for air, just wanting out. He remembered his own horrified countenance at Hiccup's idea, telling him to just let things be and let them go.

And then he closed his eyes against those thoughts, hoping North wouldn't say anything more. He didn't want to think any more about that Duel. And then a thought occurred to him and before he could question his own insensitivity, he'd blurted it out without thinking. "Did spring and autumn ever have to do this?"

North's blue eyes darkened again. They always did when he thought about the two elementals. "No. It was only meant for summer and winter, although spring was naturally meant to side with summer and autumn to side with you."

"And if we're so dangerous…" Jack continued quietly, staring down at his hands, thinking about the ice that could come shooting out if only he willed it, "if we're so dangerous, then why didn't they just kill us like they killed the others?"

"You can't kill an elemental," North replied softly. "Not without…terrible consequences."

"Oh." Jack didn't enjoy North's vague explanation, and he wanted to know more, but he had the feeling he'd overstepped North's boundaries with those last two questions. And he couldn't have the man get upset and leave him, because he still needed answers to his other questions, too.

Noticing Jack's confusion, the man sighed, adjusted his woolen cap upon his white hair and explained, "Spring was murdered personally, after only a few years of training." his eyes saddened. "The person who killed her awoke the next morning and found he had power over the trees, the birds, the flowers. The moment he'd done the deed, he'd gained the powers over spring instead. It's an elemental's last defense mechanism, to pass their power to the person who harms them. It's one's last resort."

Jack's blue eyes were growing wider by the second. "So, if…if somebody killed me, my power would just transfer straight to them?"

North nodded silently.

Jack stared at the snowy ground for a second, lost in his own thoughts. He had an odd feeling about learning all of this without Hiccup by his side. A sinking feeling that it was wrong, almost, that Hiccup should be here, that Hiccup should be learning this with him. Why though? he questioned himself.

"What about autumn?" he asked. "And what about me? Don't you think they'll have found a way around that mechanism? If it was a suicide, maybe—

North shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. They tried something like that with autumn, and it didn't work."

Jack looked down at the snow on the ground, covering the grass in a thin blanket of white. "What do you mean?" His head was beginning to pound with how much new information it now held and with how much information he knew there was still out there to discover.

"The defense mechanism is still active, no matter who the elemental's killer is," North explained.

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning even if the elemental chose suicide – and many people with these powers do; they see it as an alternative to being locked away, and a chance to go out on their own terms – their power would still pass on."

"But nobody's killed them." Jack replied. "They did it to themselves."

North shook his head. "The power transfers automatically to the people who killed them. And, unlike a murder, a suicide normally involves a lot more people. Hundreds of people wandering around with the power of winter at their fingertips – literally. Almost everybody you've come in contact with in your life gets a bit of your power. And the people you're closest to, they get the most."

Jack's head began to pound again. "Wait a second," he murmured. He probably needed more than a second to take this all in, but North was patient. They sat there for ten long minutes in silence, Jack trying to piece everything together in his mind. He reached down and grabbed up a small handful of snow, staring at it. He couldn't imagine dying and knowing his power was going to go to someone else.

It was funny – he had never been fond of his power, had in fact, been scared of his power for the better part of his life. He had never wanted to be like this, never dreamed of being a freak. But suddenly, as he thought about the alternatives, he couldn't imagine life without his powers, or worse, no life at all. It would feel like a part of him had been ripped away. How strange that the part of him he had once hated and feared now was the one part he couldn't imagine life without them.

He looked down at his pale hands for a long second; the palms now seemed to have a strangely blue tint that reminded him of his ice. "So…you train people, then? You'd train me?"

He felt an odd urge to run to Hiccup, to find him, wherever he might have been, and tell him all about the mysterious trainer, explain to him about spring and autumn and…his thoughts came to a screeching halt as he remembered. The Final Duel, the prophecy North could not repeat to him, the battle between fire and ice that had been destined to happen since forever. They could ignore the prophecy, couldn't they? Hiccup had made a lot of… Jack hesitated as he tried to think of the right word. Mistakes. Hiccup had made a lot of mistakes lately, a lot of bad decisions, but that didn't mean that Jack had to listen to some prophecy, right? He remembered hearing somewhere, maybe from a conversation between two guards outside his cell…he remembered hearing from them that prophecies were fulfilled by the choices people make, not by destiny or fate.

He wanted to find Hiccup and tell him all about North, and convince the boy to come back and train with him, and then the prophecy would never have to come true at all.

In fact, they could ignore it entirely, training side-by-side. And so lost in thought was he that he didn't even notice North saying, "That's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

"What?"

"That's what I'm here for," North repeated gently, which made Jack trust him just a bit more. Their captors had never liked repeating themselves, he remembered with a slight shudder. "To train you. And if you want, I will."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Okay, so I'm doing this thing where this week I just update every fic I'm currently working on. So I start with this one, and I go by alphabet, so the next one is Break of Dawn. I don't really know how much I like this chapter because it just feels sorta random. Anyway, if you're into any of my other fics, I'll update it this week! If you like Break of Dawn, chapter 3 will be up soon! **

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Things were not going very well for the king of summer.

For one, he had decided that, although he had wiped out this village and was therefore safe from detection while he was here, there was also nothing left to burn. His fire didn't seem to like the wasteland it had created and, though Hiccup would have liked to stay, he knew he had to leave. He left his fire palace standing in the clearing and, since he had no possessions it wasn't like he had to pack up. He simply moved on, traveling to other places, looking for a new, temporary place to settle.

It was there that Hiccup knew, however careful he had been, people had heard of him anyway. He was there in that forest for two days, and, upon waking up on the second day, he thought he could spy people lurking in the trees, watching him. Sitting up on his hands and knees, he peered deep into the woods, squinting blindly around. Whispers filled the air.

"Hello?" he called cautiously, rising to his feet. The whispers died as quickly as they had begun.

There was a few seconds of silence and then…

"Get him!"

People flew from all sides, coming at him, hands gripping his arms, strong arms gripping his ankles. He kicked and punched for a few seconds, feeling completely and stupidly helpless before he heard a strange kind of roar.

_Duh. _

Summoning the power under pressure proved to be much harder than Hiccup thought, but he managed to create a few flames from his fingertips.

Instinctively, a few of the people grabbing him released him just as quickly, stepping back, staring in awe. "It's just like the rumors said," breathed one.

In the bright glow of the crackling flame suspended above his palm, Hiccup could see that it was just a group of teenage boys, about six or seven of them, all about seventeen years old.

Although he controlled fire and not winter, his glare was cold as ice. "Vacate the premises immediately. And don't ever come back."

As they crouched in front of him, staring in awe at the flame, he actually thought they were going to listen to him. Until one of them gave a nasty, mocking laugh. "_Vacate the premises_!" he mimicked in a high falsetto. He shoved Hiccup easily to the ground; despite his power over an element, the boy was still light and weak from years of mistreatment.

"Listen, kid, we want some of that power," growled the kid who had just spoken, giving what Hiccup guessed was meant to be an intimidating glare. "So we want to know how you got it?"

"Got…_got_ it?" Hiccup couldn't resist a laugh at their stupidity, trying to rise to his feet again. The boy made as if to shove him back down, but Hiccup strengthened the fire in his hand, making the other boy rethink a bit. "I didn't get it. But _you_ better _get out_."

"What happened to you, then?" the boy demanded. "Did you get dropped on your head as a kid or what?"

Hiccup snapped. The flames roared suddenly behind them, and the boys turned around to see the source of the noise. One screamed when he saw the wall of fire rearing up, but none of them moved, staring like terrified rabbits, frozen to the spot.

Hiccup was about to drop his hands, let the fire engulf them and then…then he stopped. Something told him to hold off. They were just kids, after all. Stupid, mean, clueless teenagers who had no idea what they were asking about, but just kids. He waited until they'd broken out of their trance and were running as fast as they could away from the spot before letting the fire rage once more. As it engulfed everything – trees, grass, bush – he began to run from the spot, listening to the kids scream as they watched it tear apart the forest.

Clearly, it was time to move on.

But the same thing happened, happened in the next three places Hiccup went. Always, there were curious kids poking their noses in his business, asking how he'd gotten his powers, asking him about his life. Sometimes, the kids really didn't mean any harm; they looked up at him with awe and respect, begging him to teach them the way to control fire. Much as he hated to admit it, Hiccup actually found himself liking those kids, the nicer ones. He told them the truth, of course, that he had no idea how to teach them, and then he made them swear not to tell.

But always, they told. Little kids were no good at keeping secrets, he realized with bitter surprise. He fled those places when the adults tried to storm his hide-outs to lock him away again or to find him, experiment on him, kill him…whatever their plans for him, he was sure they were gruesome and terrifying.

The fourth place he settled in wasn't any different. A cute little blonde thing, no more than five or six, with huge, hopeful green eyes. "How'd you do that, mister, how'd you do that?"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to talk to strangers?" Hiccup demanded, shoving his hands behind his back. Hey, it might work with these kids. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

"No." The girl shook her head solemnly. "My mommy's dead."

"Oh." To hear her state it so boldly was a shock. So he searched for something else to say. 'I'm sorry' didn't have a ring of honesty to it, so what came tumbling out was probably something even worse. "If it helps, I think mine is, too."

"Why don't you know?" she questioned.

"I never knew her," he responded, overcome with the irrational urge to show her the meaning of stranger danger. But he controlled himself. No use to go around scaring little kids for the heck of it. That was what Halloween was for. "Now, you really shouldn't be talking to strangers, so…" he gave a light shooing motion with his hands.

She pouted. "But you didn't tell me how you did that!"

"Um…" he looked down at his hands. "I…I don't know…I just kind of…moved my hands, I guess?"

"Will you show me how?" She crawled up onto a nearby rock, scooting as close as she could in order to get a better look at Hiccup's face. "I've never seen anybody else make fire with their hands before!"

"Uh…" Hiccup hesitated. "I…I don't think you _can_ do it."

"Oh, everybody says that," she complained. "They all say, 'oh, no, Abby, you can't do it! You can't possibly know how!' but I can, I can, I can, I really can! So please, please, please help me learn!" She gazed up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

The irony of somebody who had never known what a curse it was.


End file.
